AVANZINO L.

Day-to-day walking-related activities frequently involve the simultaneous performance of two or more tasks (i.e., dual task). Dual task ability is influenced by higher order cognitive and cortical control mechanisms. Recently, it has been shown that the concomitant execution of an attention-demanding task affected postural control in subject...

Humans can acquire information on others' motor outputs (action prediction) and intentions (action understanding) according to their individual motor repertoire and to the detected gesture's features (e.g. temporal patterns). We aimed at dissociating between action prediction and action understanding abilities in soccer players and novices...

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Background: The pathophysiological mechanisms underlying freezing of gait (FOG) are poorly defined. MRI studies in FOG showed a distinct pattern of cortical atrophy and decreased functional connectivity (FC) within motor and cognitive networks. Furthermore, reduced rs-FC within midbrain, frontal, and temporal areas has been also described. This...

The investigation of how humans perceive and respond to emotional signals conveyed by the human body has been for a long time secondary compared with the investigation of facial expressions and emotional scenes recognition. The aims of this behavioral study were to assess the ability to process emotional body postures and to test whether motor...

Key points: The combination of action observation (AO) and a peripheral nerve stimulation has been shown to induce plasticity in the primary motor cortex (M1). However, using peripheral nerve stimulation little is known about the specificity of the sensory inputs. The current study, using muscle tendon vibration to stimulate muscle spindles and...

Background: The ability to predict temporal outcome of body movement is abnormal in idiopathic dystonia and can be altered by cerebellar neuromodulation. Tremor in cervical dystonia might be associated with performance on motion perception tasks. Methods: A total of 15 cervical dystonia patients with and 14 without tremor and 15 age-matched...

Before movement onset, during the reaction time, excitability of M1 is selectively modulated by somatosensory inputs, only in the movement-related muscle. If a similar mechanism operates before the onset of mental movements, then somatosensory afferent inputs are exploited during cognitive representation of movement. We assessed sensorimotor...

Recent studies provide novel insights into the meso-scale organization of the brain, highlighting the co-occurrence of different structures: classic assortative (modular), disassortative, and core-periphery. However, the spectral properties of the brain meso-scale remain mostly unexplored. To fill this knowledge gap, we investigated how the...

Freezing of gait is considered one of the most disabling gait disorders in patients with PD. An effective treatment for freezing of gait is missing, thus current management requires a multidisciplinary approach. Among treatment options, physiotherapy is acknowledged to be crucial; however, a systematic review that demonstrates its efficacy is...

Time processing is a multifaceted skill crucial for managing different aspects of life. In the current work, we explored the relationship between interoception and time processing by examining research on clinical models. We investigated whether time processing deficits are associated with dysfunction of the interoceptive system and/or insular...

Introduction: Perception of verticality is fundamental for postural stability that is often impaired in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Haptic perception of verticality has not been fully investigated in PD. The aim of the study was to assess subjective haptic vertical (SHV) in PD patients in relation to postural and balance...